Savine dan Glokta
'''Savine dan Glokta' – socialite, investor, and daughter of Arch Lector Glokta, the most feared man in The Union. She’s determined to claw her way through the ranks of the Union's new barons of industry, and will not let anything stand in her way. Appearance and Personality Savine dan Glokta is a celebrated beauty who takes enormous trouble over her appearance. She’s always powdered to porcelain-perfect, dressed in the dizzy height of fashion, shaped by corsetry into the immaculate womanly ideal, and with not a hair out of place. She wears wigs like many high-born women, and shaves her own hair off. Savine has grown up to be more like her cunning and hard-hearted step-father, rather than her dimwitted biological father. She takes ruthlessness in business to a whole new level, routinely engaging in blackmail, extortion, corporate espionage and influence peddling to get ahead. It's made her one of the richest women in the Union. She is also a reasonably capable swordswoman. History Savine is the daughter of Ardee West and Jezal dan Luthar, but knows nothing of this, having been raised as the child of Sand dan Glokta. She has become a socialite and investor. An investor in inventions; machines, manufactories, better ways of doing things. Her obsession is how ideas can be turned into money. It's not even about the actual money anymore, as she sees it merely as a way of keeping score. She was one of the founders of the Solar Society with Honrig Curnsbick and her mother, a learned society dedicated to science and new inventions. Savine is also the secret lover of Crown Prince Orso, despite his reputation as a silly, foppish lech of a man. A Little Hatred Savine’s story begins with her wheeling-and-dealing in Adua. She and her secretary Zuri collect money owed from a sketchy bar-owner and drug-dealer, and then investing it in a new canal through a blend of subtle cajoling and blatant threats. Later at the Solar Society, Savine has a couple of interesting meetings: Selest dan Heugen, a great admirer, or as Savine sees it, a younger rival; Yoru Sulfur, it seems Bayaz has taken an interest in the king's bastard; and High King Jezal himself, who is always awkward around her. Meanwhile, Prince Orso has gotten the notion of leading a heroic campaign against Stour Nightfall, but needs funding. Savine judges Orso as beyond unreliable, but inexplicably finds herself agreeing to lend him the money. To her own shock, she realises that she’s head over heels in love with the heir to the throne. Savine journeys to Valbeck to check on one of her manufactories with suspiciously sudden profits. Unable to get straight answers from her partner, Colonel Vallimir, she instead quizzes a maid, May Broad, and learns of the overcrowded slums, smoke pollution, and spiralling inflation in the city. The next day Savine inspects the manufactory, and the measures to cut costs prick even her cold-heart; the workers are all children. While inspecting the accounts, she suddenly hears a commotion from the factory floor; the entire workforce has risen in armed insurrection. To escape, she’s forced to desperately wriggle through a hole in the floor, crawl beneath the machines, squeeze past a great waterwheel, and then swim the filthy river. It’s quickly clear that this is a city-wide insurrection by Breakers and Burners, marked by beatings, robbery, arson, rape, and murder. Savine disguises herself as a bald vagrant in an old battered coat, and shambles through Valbeck, not knowing where to go for safety. Some men chase her, and she kills two when cornered, but eventually finds refuge at the barricade of Gunnar Broad. Savine spends the rest of the insurrection in the Broad’s two-room apartment. Gunnar thinks she’s just some lost waif, but May knows who she is. The pair make a deal that Savine will take care of May’s family when the uprising is over. Prince Orso arrives and brings the insurection to a swift and peaceful conclusion. As the folk of Valbeck pour out of the city, Savine announces who she is, and demands to see Prince Orso. Finally reunited, Orso bursts out that he loves her, wants to marry her, and the pair have happy rescue sex. However, when Savine announces the news to her mother, she reacts with absolute horror. Ardee dejectedly admits that King Jezal is her real father, and Orso her half-brother. Savine ends the relationship without telling him why, and turns to Leo dan Brock for comfort. Back in Adua, Savine has taken Gunnar Broad and his family into her employ, as well as Zuri's brothers from Gurkhul. She has been left reeling by her experience in Valbeck and new of her father. Savine gets into a heated exchange with Arch Lector Glokta at the triumph, which several people notice, including Bayaz. Glokta warns her to have nothing to do with the Magus. Illustrations savinewatermark.png savine-heliaofbuda-small.jpg Category:Characters Category:Characters from the Union Category:POV characters